Investing.com – Belgium stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Brussels, the BEL 20 gained 0.67%.
The best performers of the session on the BEL 20 were Galapagos NV (AS:GLPG), which rose 2.75% or 1.330 points to trade at 49.745 at the close. Meanwhile, Ontex Group (BR:ONTEX) added 2.02% or 0.56 points to end at 28.24 and Telenet Group (BR:TNET) was up 1.70% or 0.68 points to 40.71 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were NV Bekaert SA (BR:BEKB), which fell 2.07% or 0.81 points to trade at 38.27 at the close. KBC (BR:KBC) declined 0.47% or 0.190 points to end at 39.820 and Elia (BR:ELI) was down 0.47% or 0.235 points to 49.430.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Brussels Stock Exchange by 90 to 53 and 8 ended unchanged.
Shares in KBC (BR:KBC) fell to 52-week lows; down 0.47% or 0.190 to 39.820.
Gold for August delivery was down 0.63% or 8.65 to $1358.45 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 3.20% or 1.52 to hit $45.91 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 3.18% or 1.55 to trade at $47.25 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.34% to 1.1061, while EUR/GBP fell 0.17% to 0.8569.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.21% at 96.33.